| Graphic: Fathom Events |
| You really don’t wanna miss this, man. |
It’s going to be the best Thursday in the history of the world.
The stars of many a stoner’s favorite hit TV show, Mystery Science Theater 3000, will take on the legendary 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness on August 19 for an evening of live, hilarious riffing and ridicule!
RiffTrax’s own Michael J. Nelson, Kevin “Tom Servo” Murphy and Bill “Crow T. Robot” Corbett — will be reunited on the big screen for the live broadcast, sharing an evening of poking fun at the cult classic feature that warned against the horrors of smoking marijuana.
The event will be broadcast live to movie theaters nationwide on August 19, when NCM Fathom, the goons of Something Awful, and RiffTrax team up again to present RiffTrax Live: Reefer Madness at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central/6 p.m. Mountain/8 p.m. Pacific (tape delayed).
Audiences will also be treated to the world premiere of three new shorts from the guys, as well as two original video shorts from Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka of Something Awful.
Movie theater audiences will receive free digital goodies after the event, including a downloadable short, avatars and a digital photo of the guys. A URL will be revealed onscreen, at which you can receive your free digital goodies after the live event.
There will be a prerecorded encore broadcast of the August 19 live show on Tuesday, August 24.
Originally titled Tell Your Children and funded by a church group, Reefer Madness was intended as a morality tale about the extreme dangers of cannabis use.
The story follows a group of high school students who are coerced by dope pushers into trying marijuana; the catalyst for an ill-fated party that, inevitably, soon descends into madness.
Soon after Reefer Madness’ initial filming in 1936, notorious exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper turned up the intensity and the sleaze with the gratuitous addition of salacious insert shots.
The gloriously awful final masterpiece offers scenes of accidental murder, suicide and vehicular manslaughter — all caused by the Killer Weed.
| Photo: Buzzine |
| Mike Nelson (center) with Servo and Crow on MST3K |
Reefer Madness gained new life in the 1970s when recreational marijuana enthusiasts discovered it and circulated the piece as entertainment. (I’m remembering many high and happy nights at the Q-107 Late Show at Hickory Hills Cinemas in Florence, Alabama, and I was thoroughly entertained.)
The film’s over-the-top moralizing and wild exaggeration of the effects of cannabis make it a perfect target for the comic wit of the RiffTrax gang.
“Reefer Madness is bizarre, paranoid and hilarious, everything we like in a movie,” said Michael J. Nelson, RiffTrax creator and former host of the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000.
“I’ve seen it a hundred times and I still find it funny — and I’ve never even smoked pot!” Nelson said.
Tickets are on sale now. You can enter your zip code here to find a participating theater.
| Graphic: RiffTrax |
Toke of Genius Writing Contest: Here’s Where You Come In
For the first time ever, fans have the chance to hear their own joke used in the live event by submitting a riff for one — or all ten — of the short clips available for riffing from Reefer Madness.
Riffs may be submitted at www.RiffTrax.com/contest through August 18.
One winner for each clip will be selected by the RiffTrax guys, and each winner will receive a bag of RiffTrax’s Secret Stash and, get this, an onscreen credit in the event. Dude, you’ll be famous!